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by stardropdream



Category: xxxHoLic
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 18:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/690173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream/pseuds/stardropdream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“She’s been waiting,” was all Doumeki said and he started walking again, guiding Watanuki.</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on LJ August 28, 2009. 
> 
> Written before the series ended as a possible canon ending. It is obviously now waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay disproved.

“Do you need to rest?” Doumeki asked, expression seemingly deadpan but revealing concerned eyes.   
  
Watanuki shook his head, inhaled deeply and tried to use his shoulder to push off the wall. He stood on shaky, unsteady legs for a moment and didn’t shrug off Doumeki’s arm when he wrapped it around his shoulders to keep him upright.”   
  
“I don’t need to,” Watanuki said, a bit stubbornly. “She’s still waiting.”   
  
“Don’t push yourself or she’ll be unhappy,” Doumeki said.   
  
“I know that, shut up,” Watanuki said, but without venom. His breathing evening out, he tried to pull away from Doumeki’s hold, but the other boy held firm and with only a slight huff, Watanuki accepted it.   
  
“Hn.”  
  
“Are we going in the right direction?” Watanuki asked, peering out towards the street they were walking on. “This is the way to her house, right?”   
  
“You haven’t been in that shop for that long,” Doumeki said, and his tone wouldn’t be teasing from anyone else’s mouth, but with Doumeki it was. “I know where we’re going.”   
  
“And she knows we’re coming?”  
  
“She’s been waiting,” was all Doumeki said and he started walking again, guiding Watanuki.   
  
Watanuki’s eyes flashed a moment, a moment of regret and guilt, but it was gone as quickly as it arrived, and he nodded his head, walking alongside Doumeki, and possibly leaning against Doumeki’s side for the support (not that he would ever admit that he was doing such a thing).   
  
When they turned the corner of the street belong to one Himawari Kunogi, they spotted her house instantly, remembering it from that rainy night. The gate was open and Himawari stood at the opening, looking down each side of the street, waiting. When her head turned, she spotted them instantly and she froze up, breath catching in her throat.   
  
Watanuki swallowed and looked almost nervous and embarrassed a moment before he continued to walk with Doumeki. Himawari left her front yard and entered the street, hands clenched at her side.   
  
“Ah…” she said and whatever words were to follow get lost in her throat. She blinked a few times, to banish the threat of tears and to remind herself that what was in front of her was real.   
  
They stop a short distance away from her, and Doumeki’s arm fell from Watanuki’s shoulders.   
  
She looked between him and Doumeki, eyes stricken yet questioning. Doumeki nodded his head and her eyes scraped back to Watanuki’s face, tracing the lines of bandages around his forehead and around his neck, the arm in a sling.   
  
“Himawari-chan…” Watanuki began and almost felt guilty for the state he was in, unused to seeing such open expressions of grief on the girl’s face.  
  
She didn’t say anything, just stared between the two boys, before swallowing, and steadying herself. And then, pushing off of one foot, she was running towards them, tears collecting in the corners of her eyes as she ran towards them, Tanpopo alighted on the air and following after her with a small note of birdsong.   
  
Watanuki was about to speak before Himawari collided with him, arms wrapping around his back and face buried against his shoulder. She gripped him tighter, as if she was trying to anchor him, to keep him there and from disappearing or floating away. Watanuki, eyes wide, stared at her quivering shoulders before slanting his expression towards Doumeki, who offered him the barest hint of a smile.  
  
The boy’s expression crumbled and he gripped her back, hands curling into the fabric of her shirt and tugging her close until they meshed. His face buried in her hair, nose brushing against her ear and he inhaled her scent.   
  
“I’m so glad,” he heard her murmur against his shoulder, voice choked with tears. She pulled back, gripping his shoulders, tears clouding her eyes and she offered him a watery smile. “Welcome back.”   
  
“I’m back,” Watanuki agreed, and laughed a bit self-consciously from the open display of emotion he was unaccustomed to.   
  
Himawari, still smiling, reached out her hand and grasped Doumeki’s wrist, tugging him over so that the three were hugging now. He came willingly and his strong arms wrapped around the two of them, and held them close. Himawari’s small hands grasped the fabric of their shirts, and Watanuki, sandwiched between the two of them, knew that he belonged.   
  
So the three hugged, and it was okay.


End file.
